ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – When Brittany Tucker’s brother died in 2015, “I took it the wrong way,” she said. “I dabbled in drugs.”
Tucker’s addiction led to state intervention by the Georgia Department of Human Services’ Department of Family and Child Services (DFCS) in 2016. Within two years, DFCS removed all four of her children from her care, including her infant daughter.
Georgia law states that if drugs are involved in a child welfare case, a judge may require drug testing of the parents. Tucker agreed to random drug tests in hopes of getting her children back. State contracted personnel will collect the samples and send them to a subcontracted drug testing lab.
Tucker admits he relapsed early, but said he was permanently sober by 2019. “I didn’t get sober for myself,” she said. “I did it for the kids.”
However, her mandatory drug test showed no such results. Tucker tested positive for methamphetamine during a time when he claimed to be sober, according to results from a state subcontracted laboratory. These results affected her visitation privileges with her children.
“I never had supervised visits,” Tucker said. After confirming that the positive test result from a laboratory subcontracted by DFCS was incorrect, Ms. Tucker, on the advice of her attorney, Darris Good, began getting tested at an independent laboratory.
Good is a veteran attorney with 20 years of experience, representing parents in juvenile court in DFCS cases. She said that when Mr. Tucker tested at a DFCS subcontracted laboratory, in some cases the results were positive for drugs, but when her client tested at an independent laboratory during the same period, the results were negative for drugs. said.
Attorney Darris Good represents parents fighting DFCS cases in juvenile court. (WANF)
“These test results contain a significant number of false positives,” Good said.
The DFCS subcontractor laboratory in question is Aversys, also known as Averhealth and Expertox. Neither laboratory currently has a direct contract with DFCS. However, the companies that contract directly with DFCS actually subcontract drug screening testing work to Averhealth and Expertox.
The laboratory will perform urine and hair follicle tests. DFCS wants both types because the drug only lasts up to a week in the urine, but can last about three months in hair follicles, according to the National Institutes of Health.
In Gwinnett County Juvenile Court, Good argued that the hair follicle tests by both companies could result in false positives. She also alleged improper handling of specimens and inadequate collection training.
“It’s really sad to see a case like this where a client remains sober,” Good said. “They are losing children to false positives.”
An expert’s opinion
Atlanta News First Ivestygates took Tucker’s case to Ted Simon, a veteran toxicologist who worked for more than a decade as a toxicologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Simon expresses concern about the validity of some of Tucker’s test results.
In 2018, Tucker had two hair screenings in just a few days. An Expertox test subcontracted by DFCS came back positive for the drug, but an independent laboratory test 11 days later came back negative for the drug. Simon said both hair screenings were done within two weeks of each other, so the results should be similar.
“These two samples don’t match what you would expect,” he explained.
A urine test in 2019 came back negative for drugs, but a hair test the next day by DFCS subcontractor AverHealth found very high levels of the drug, Simon said. Mr Simon said the drug would have been detected in a urine test as the concentration in the hair follicles was “so high”.
“Hair tests are unreliable,” Simon says.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) currently has no federal regulations regarding hair follicle testing, but the agency does propose regulations and guidance. The agency said shortcomings of hair tests include environmental pollution and bias in hair color, which affect accuracy. The results are difficult to interpret because black hair has stronger melanin binding and therefore contains more of some basic drugs.
Veteran toxicologist Ted Simon spent more than a decade as a toxicologist at the U.S. EPA. (WANF)
Atlanta News First Investigators has learned that multiple lawsuits are pending against the two labs alleging false positives. Both companies deny the allegations.
Michigan Child Protective Services terminated its contract with AverHealth, citing inaccurate test results. In Texas, the state’s Forensic Science Board revoked Expertox’s license after reviewing claims of inaccurate results and misconduct.
In Georgia, an Atlanta News First investigation revealed that DFCS leadership knew about serious problems since 2018. Documents obtained through open records requests show dozens of emails, complaints and reviews from DFCS employees reporting various concerns about inspections and training.
Concerns about AverHealth
One DFCS official reported three false positives for one AverHealth test, and another said the company’s tests were not 97 to 99 percent accurate. Still others noted concerns about training and cross-contamination.
Atlanta News First Investigators also obtained documents outlining the court’s concerns, including a statement from a local county judge who said the court would no longer accept AverHealth’s results.
AverHealth officials declined interview requests but answered some questions. “GA DFCS has never raised any concerns regarding false positive or false negative test results.” Additionally, “GA DFCS has never contacted Averhealth with any credible concerns or inaccurate results reported by Averhealth. Averhealth stands by the results reported by the CAP-FDT and CLIA accredited laboratories.”
Expertox concerns
State records also show concern about Expertox. An email chain revealed that DFCS officials were writing about the mother’s suspected false positive result from either environmental exposure or over-the-counter medications.
“This raises serious concerns for the validity of future screening results,” DFCS officials said.
Expertox’s laboratory director, Dr. James Bourland, said he was hired in 2022 to “address operational concerns for the laboratory.” Dr Boland said they have since introduced a two-tiered approach to testing and confirmation.
Dr. Boland said that while there is no pattern of false results, he acknowledged that he is aware of at least one recent false positive claim, one of which is related to the email chain mentioned above. I did. After reviewing the claims, Dr. Borland said he believed environmental contamination and over-the-counter drug explanations were plausible in this case, according to state records.
Although not required by DFCS, there are tests that may help eliminate concerns about false-positive test results. It is the D/L isomer. This method can determine legal forms of methamphetamine, such as nasal sprays and inhalers, and Dr. Borland said this testing will be a priority throughout Georgia.
“It’s very difficult to find a lab that can do that effectively,” he said.
Brittany Tucker wishes this had happened sooner. She has since started a business using a heat press to embed images on T-shirts from her home. Her DFCS case is officially over and her older children are finally home. Her young daughter was eventually adopted by a new family.
Brittany Tucker currently runs a T-shirt printing business. (WANF)
“I don’t think that fear will ever go away, not just for me but for my children,” Tucker said. “It caused a lot of trauma, hurt and pain that we still heal today.” We’re all in therapy to try to get through it.”
DFCS responds
DFCS did not comment on this specific case, but said that in cases of suspected false positives, it requests an affidavit from the laboratory containing details about storage practices, testing methods, and the laboratory’s accreditation.
Asked why it still performs hair follicle tests, the agency said: “There are evidence-based benefits supporting the use of hair follicle tests, including longer detection periods and evaluation of past drug use patterns.” Ta. It is important to note that testing limitations exist with all specimen collection methods, including oral swabs and urine tests. DFCS offers a variety of specimen collection methods to compensate for these limitations. ”
“In most cases, DFCS allows the use of multiple collection methods for a single client where one method is preferred, but it depends on the circumstances. For example, if the collector If we notice that you are bleaching your hair, we may also collect a urine sample for testing.
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